Seguros de Justicia C.A., an Intriguing Odyssey into the Venezuelan Judiciary System

Former Venezuelan diplomat José González Consalvi and I. In 2012 José was one of my most reliable guides around the capital Caracas and the Caribbean coastline Estado Vargas.

“Heladero”, Ice cream vendor at one of the Estado Vargas’s beaches

Chavez’s graffiti adorns crumbling wall in the beach town of Estado Vargas in 2012

“Fuerza Chavez” Hang in there (don’t die) Chavez. This grafitti was at a time when the “Comandante” was undergoing medical and surgical intervention in Cuba for his terminal cancer

The dog…Sometimes it’s better to nap on a bed of rocks, than open ones eye’s to reality.

Photos and text Bill Milligan

Caracas, March 2012. I was walking the streets of Caracas the day Chavez died.

Trekking southward from Mexico through Central America, I arrived in the heart of corruption and chaos. Venezuela, once a proud and wealthy country has now earned itself the dubious distinction as one of the most dangerous countries in all of Latin America.

A simple routine stop at a traffic light can get you killed. Cars and SUV’s with darkened windows cautiously slow down at traffic lights hoping to evade the glances of gun-toting kids and thugs on noisy motorcycles, awaiting their next victim. Add on the perennial ineptitude of the Government, the endemic global drug trade, financial ruin, soaring double-digit inflation and empty supermarket shelves, the whole situation made me anxious. Despite having a Venezuelan wife, I told myself this will be my one and only trip to Venezuela, as life’s too short to be splayed out on the sidewalk with a bullet hole in my head.

THE INTERVIEW

Raúl Sojo Montes was born in Caracas in 1980, attended high school at the San Ignacio de Loyola and obtained his bachelor’s degree as part of the first promotion of the Universidad Santa María. A film enthusiast, photographer and audiovisual creator, his works have been displayed widely in Caracas and Miami.

In his first undertaking as an author, Sojo Montes puts the camera aside and artistically slips into taking the “word” into a three dimensional trip into the depths of corruption and control within one of Caracas’s most notorious prison systems. The ingredients are there for a suspenseful, humorous and ironic journey into the Caracas prison system, where money and power rule.

Now living in Wilmington, North Carolina, after his traumatic kidnaping at gunpoint and 9 hours of being held hostage in his Venezuelan home, Raul Sojo Montes receives the boxes of his first novel “Seguros de Justicia C.A.” This is Sojo’s first literary sojourn into Caracas’s dark and dangerous prison system. “Over ten years ago, I visited someone in La Planta prison who had been unjustly incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit. But what was so intriguing and completely awed me, was his uncanny ability to negotiate better conditions with the hardcore prison boss, called prans.”

The novel ‘Seguros de Justicia C.A.’ is based on his real life experiences. “I too was an inadvertent victim of the Venezuelan justice system a couple of years ago, where a prisoner from the Yare penitentiary stole my identity leading me on a bizarre odyssey with indifferent and compassionless prosecutors and judges in Caracas.

“Everything I wrote is told honestly and without exaggerated emotion, as these occurrences are the rules, not the exception. This bothers me, as our system has become so desensitized to systemic corruption and its effects on all levels that my heart bleeds for my country in extremis”.

“As the government controls practically all the air waves, any issues raised by the opposition go unheard, kinda like ‘pissing in the wind’. The tacit acceptance by (President) Maduro and his partners in corruption, ineptness and the global drug trade leaves a sad, frustrated and angry taste in the mouths of the struggling common man.”

“I am overwhelmed by sadness when I think of younger Venezuelans, who have only known this deleterious administration.”

Sojo adeptly balances fiction and reality, exposing corruption and violence at every level. His collection of stories, both real and fictitious moves along swiftly. “There was a prisoner in jail because his identity was stolen, and this paralleled an experience I had. What would happen to me if I would go to prison? Maybe I would be killed by now because frankly, I doubt my ability to survive in such an intolerably hostile environment.”

He documents high profile corruption and crime cases from recent years. Some very painful, as the case of Nathaly Trujillo, to whom he dedicated the book. “I never met her, just another victim of random violence. Armed young motorcyclists were participating in the funeral of a pran (prison leader’s slang name,) and in all the traffic chaos she was shot and killed the day before she celebrated her baby shower.

Initially Sojo began this as a screenplay, but in a short time converted it to a novel, “It’s crazy, but I loved it. Of course, I benefited enormously from the experience of those who read my first manuscript or gave me advice. The hardest thing was to describe the Venezuelan judicial and penitentiary system without delving into too much violence. I didn’t want that to be the style of the book.”

THE NOVEL

The reader will find gallow humor, sarcasm, and irony sprinkled throughout the dark corners of “Seguros de Justicia C.A.

Sojo does an outstanding job chronicling a country on the brink of collapse, taking the reader on a bizarre journey into the corrupted Venezuelan judiciary and penitentary system.

Chavez is dead, but his legacy lives on and continues with the handing over of the reins to his bus driving buddy Nicholas Maduro. Maduro has taken the “bus” to the edge of the cliff, hanging by a thread before mass chaos erupts. This novel was published by the O.T. Editores of Caracas, which appears to have a winner on it’s hands.

Seguros de Justicia, C.A:

Principles – Bias: our patients are always right. – Professionalism: whatever their crime, our patients can always rely on us and on our discretion. – Experience: at Seguros de Justicia, C.A. we know all the avenues to obtain rulings in accordance to our interest. – Public relations: we have developed the best of relationships with our patients and suppliers. We rely on them and they rely on us. Values – Commitment: our responsibility is a guarantee of success. – Shrewdness: we will cut every corner we may find on our path. – Charm: our staff knows how to interact with key persons. We never underestimate the value of a good joke or perfectly timed hors-d’oeuvre. – Tolerance: at Seguros de Justicia, C.A. we pass no judgement based on actions, or ambitions.

About the author

Bill Milligan

Bill Milligan M.D. entered into private practice, in Cherry Hill, N.J., where he spent twenty-five years in solo practice. Always interested in alternative medicine and proper diet, along with a holistic outlook, he entered into Qi Gong training in Philadelphia. After many years of training, he found Eden Energy Medicine becoming one of a few Medical Doctors who certified in Energy Medicine.